Ben Weber Genealogy
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Johann “John” Bedesem

Generation 5 back

Descent: Benjamin James Weber ← Virginia Anne Kelble ← Mary Dolores Bedesem ← Paul Peter Bedesem ← Peter Paul Bedesem ← Johann “John” Bedesem

In brief

1820s–1840s

Born 1 January 1821 in Bitburg (or Prüm), in Prussia's Rhine Province, to Matthias Bedessem and Maria Magdalena Brand. A shoemaker in Prüm, where he married Anna Maria Spanier on 24 February 1846.

1850s–1860s

Emigrated to Philadelphia, where he was a shoemaker by 1858. Daughters Magdaline (1861), Helena (1863), and Sara (1867) were born; a baby died at birth in 1866.

1870s

Son Peter Paul was born in 1870. Last recorded as a shoemaker on North 8th Street in 1870–71; died sometime between 1871 and 1882.

Family

Father
Matthias Bedessem
Mother
Maria Magdalena Brand
Spouse
Anna Maria Spanier
m. 1846

Children

  • Magdaline Elisabeth Bedesem
    b. May 11, 1861, in Pennsylvania, USA
    m. _____ Greeves
    d. July 16, 1918, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, due to Pulmonary Tuberculosis
  • Helena Bedesem
    b. August 8, 1863
  • unnamed Bedesem
    b. November 3, 1866, in Philadelphia, PA
    d. November 3, 1866, in Philadelphia, PA
  • Sara Elisabeth Barbara Bedesem
    b. October 16, 1867
  • Peter Paul Bedesem · in this line
    b. January 21, 1870 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    m. Mary McCormick, June 15, 1898
    d. April 15, 1951 · Methodist Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Siblings

Full siblings — children of Matthias Bedessem and Maria Magdalena Brand

  • Christina Bedessem
    b. Abt. 1817, in Bitburg, Lower Rhine, Prussia
    d. February 23, 1819, in Bitburg, Lower Rhine, Prussia
  • August Bedessem
    b. May 6, 1819, in Bitburg, Lower Rhine, Prussia
  • Johann Bedessem
    b. January 1, 1821, in Bitburg, Lower Rhine, Prussia
  • Heinrich Bedessem
    b. May 14, 1823, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia
    m. Fredericke Clemens, March 3, 1851, in Hillesheim, Rhine Province, Prussia
    m. Agnes Weingart, November 23, 1863, in Hillesheim, Rhine Province, Prussia
  • Matthias Bedessem
    b. January 11, 1826, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia
    m. Anna Maria Woltersdorf
  • Theodor Bedessem
    b. May 14, 1828, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia
    d. March 8, 1830, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia

Half-siblings — children of Matthias Bedessem and Katharina Mertes

  • Peter Bedessem
    b. March 16, 1832, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia
    m. Margaretha Colling, February 15, 1858, in Vianden, Luxembourg
  • Katharina Bedessem
    b. December 12, 1834, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia
  • Joseph Bedessem
    b. April 22, 1839, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia
    d. May 19, 1865, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia
  • Matthias Joseph Bedessem
    b. July 30, 1841, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia
  • Anna Maria Bedessem
    b. December 13, 1843, in Bitburg, Rhine Province, Prussia

Life story

A Shoemaker from the Eifel

Johann Bedesem (Bedessem in the German records) was born on January 1, 1821, in Bitburg or Prüm, in the Eifel hills of Prussia's Rhine Province, the son of Matthias Bedessem and Maria Magdalena Brand. His brothers were August, Heinrich, and Matthias; a sister, Christina, and a brother, Theodor, died as small children; and after his mother's death his father had another family with Katharina Mertes. Johann became a shoemaker in Prüm, and there on February 24, 1846, he married Anna Maria Spanier.

The Bedesems emigrated to Philadelphia, where John was working as a shoemaker by 1858. Their daughter Magdaline was born in Pennsylvania in 1861, Helena in 1863, and Sara in 1867; another baby was born and died on the same day in November 1866, when the family lived on 8th Street at Columbia. In 1864–65 they lived at 519 Parrish Street, and in 1870–71 at 1710 North 8th Street. Their son Peter Paul, Ben's 2x-great-grandfather, was born in January 1870.

John disappears from the Philadelphia records after 1871, and he died sometime before 1882. His death was a turning point for his young son: Peter Paul later said that after his father died, his mother sent him to a Catholic home in California.

Sources (9)
  1. Philadelphia Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms, Helena Bedesem; Archdiocese of Philadelphia, St. Peter the Apostle Parish, Baptisms, image 433, Find My Past (https://search.findmypast.com/record/browse?id=S2/US/RC/PHILLY/BATCH2/0010/130-01/00437 : accessed 18 March 2023).
  2. Philadelphia Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms, Helena Bedesem; Archdiocese of Philadelphia, St. Peter the Apostle Parish, Baptisms, image 82, Find My Past (https://search.findmypast.com/record/browse?id=S2/US/RC/PHILLY/BATCH2/0010/130-02/00085 : accessed 18 March 2023).
  3. “Death registers, 1860-1903,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DZGQ-9D : accessed 15 September 2023), Death Register for unnamed Bedesem, 1866, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
  4. Gopsill’s Philadelphia City Directory (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: James Gopsill, 1871), 202; “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/2867096 : accessed 15 September 2023); (1871) 116.
  5. Gopsill’s Philadelphia City Directory (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: James Gopsill, 1870), 203; “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/3055965 : accessed 15 September 2023); (1870) 118.
  6. McElroy’s Philadelphia City Directory (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: E. C. & J. Biddle & Co., 1864), 41; “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/2888833 : accessed 24 September 2023); (1864) 65.
  7. McElroy’s Philadelphia City Directory (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Sherman & Co., 1865), 69; “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/2889352 : accessed 24 September 2023); (1865) 42.
  8. Irmgard Schmitz, Werner Naumann, and Werner Lichter, Familienbuch Bitburg (Bitburg, Germany: Geschichtlichen Arbeitskreis Bitburg Land, 2017), 1:154-158.
  9. “After 55 Years, Printer’s Devil of ‘Sun’ Returns,” Colusa Sun-Herald (Colusa, CA), 23 July 1940, page 1, col 2 (continued page 4, col 6-7; web archives (https://www.newspapers.com/image/993816172/ : accessed 26 October 2023).
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